One of my favorite shrubs is Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii). I have used it in countless landscapes and I like how well it does when planted around trees where they can enjoy the filtered shade.
Now that fall is just a couple of days away (SUPER excited about that by the way), my thoughts drift toward plants that bloom in fall, which include Autumn Sage.
For more reasons why you may want to add this delightful plant to your garden, check out my latest article for Houzz.com
In my last post “A Long Forgotten Area Ready for Transformation”, I told you that I would share what plants I was going to have put in this neglected area.
The selection of these plants has been guided by specific criteria:
So are you ready to see what I chose?
Let’s start with the trees…
The area has two large Foothills Palo Verde trees along with a Wolfberry tree, so I chose one other type of tree to add.
Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) is one of my favorite desert trees. It is not a true willow, but is named for the fact that its leaves are willow-shaped.
Colorful flowers appear throughout the summer that add a vibrant punch of color to the landscape.
Hardy to zone 6, Desert Willow requires well-drained soil and full sun or filtered shade.
Now for the shrubs…
Valentine Bush (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine’) is my favorite shrub of all time. I will never forget the day when I was first introduced to this red-flowering shrub, by Mountain States Wholesale Nursery. It was 1999 and I was a horticulturist fresh out of college.
I was given 2 Valentine shrubs from Mountain States to plant in the landscape area I managed. Ever since then, I have been hooked.
Red flowers appear on this shrub, beginning in January and lasting until April. If you haven’t noticed it before, there isn’t much blooming in winter, which is one of the reasons I love Valentine.
The foliage is evergreen and Valentine are hardy to zone 8. Better yet, they only need to be pruned once a year – in spring after flowering.
Plant in full sun and well-drained soil.
For more information about Valentine, check out my post about this great plant.
My second choice for shrubs is Baja Ruellia (Ruellia peninsularis).
Now, this isn’t its rather invasive cousin Ruellia (Ruellia brittoniana), pictured below…
Baja Ruellia is what I like to think of as a smaller version of Texas Sage species (Leucophyllum sp). It doesn’t get as large and has a longer flowering season then Leucophyllum.
The flowers of Baja Ruellia are tubular and appear spring through fall, with the heaviest bloom occurring in spring.
The foliage is light green and rarely suffers frost damage in our zone 9b climate. Hardy to zone 9, Baja Ruellia should be planted in full sun and well-drained soil.
The third shrub for this area will be Silvery Cassia (Senna phyllodenia). This Australian native does very well in arid landscapes.
The silvery foliage will provide contrast to the darker greens present in the landscape. Evergreen to 20 degrees, this shrub flourishes in zone 9 landscapes.
Yellow flowers appear in late winter and into spring. Pruning is needed after flowering, to remove seed pods in managed landscapes.
Like the other shrubs, Silvery Cassia enjoys full sun and well-drained soil.
The smallest shrub for this area will be Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii). This plant is hard to zone 7, so remains evergreen during winter here.
Flowers appear fall through spring in the low desert. The most common colors are red or pink, although there are other colors such as white, lavender and peach.
I like to use Autumn Sage around trees like Palo Verde, where the filtered shade shelters it from the intense summer sun. I first saw them planted around a tree at the Desert Botanical Garden and I really liked the way it looked, so I have repeated this design in many of my landscapes.
The Autumn Sage above, was planted by me around a Foothills Palo Verde about 12 years ago and they are still going strong.
I still have perennials and accent plants to show you that I have included in the design and I’ll share them with you next time.
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Life around our household has been busy lately….
School is back in session (for which I am extremely grateful for 😉
My son Kai, has ditched his wheelchair for a walker and will soon be able to walk without it.
AND
My daughter, will soon come home after leaving 5 months ago for the Navy. She is graduating from her Equipment Operator School next week and will be an official ‘SeaBee’. She will be on leave for 2 weeks before she reports for combat training in Mississippi, where she will be stationed for a month.
The BEST news is that her permanent base will be in Port Hueneme, which is where she wanted to be. What is even better for us, is that it is in Southern California, just 7 hours from home!!!
We are getting ready to celebrate her homecoming, which I will share with all of you 🙂
My inbox has been filled lately with pruning questions. Specifically, how to prune back overgrown flowering shrubs.
Chihuahuan Sage (Leucophyllum laevigatum)
You may be wondering why you need to severely prune back overgrown shrubs?
Well, as you can see from the photo, above – as a shrub’s branches age, they produce fewer leaves and flowers. As time passes – these branches die, which leave ugly, bare areas.
Here are a few more examples of overgrown shrubs that need to be severely pruned back…
‘White Cloud’ Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens ‘White Cloud’)
You may think the formally pruned sage shrubs in the photo above, look okay besides being a bit on the large side.
But, what you don’t see is a large amount of dead branches inside. In reality, these shrubs are covered in a very thin layer of growth.
Here is an example of old Cassia (Senna nemophila) shrubs that have only been pruned formally. You can see that there are more dead areas than live growth.
So, how do you go about severely pruning old, overgrown shrubs back?
First of all – don’t do this during cooler months because it will take your shrubs a very long time to grow back. In addition, it can make frost-tender shrubs more susceptible to frost damage. Wait until spring for pruning back summer-flowering shrubs such as bougainvillea, sage, oleanders, etc.
You need a good pair of loppers and sometimes a pruning saw and you are ready to go. Simply prune your shrub back until there is only about 1 – 2 ft left.
Hedge trimmers can help if you use them to remove the outer part of the shrub and then you can get your loppers inside to prune off larger branches toward the base.
Below, are photos of ‘Rio Bravo’ Sage (Leucophyllum langmaniae ‘Rio Bravo’) shrubs that started out overgrown, were pruned back severely, and grew back.
Overgrown shrubs.
Pruned back to 1 ft.
This is the ugly stage. But you need to go through this ‘awkward’ stage to achieve beautiful, healthy shrubs.
I promise that it doesn’t last long…
New growth appears 3 weeks later
8 weeks after pruning.
12 weeks after severe pruning.
You can see that the severe pruning caused the shrub to grow young, new branches that produce beautiful green growth and flowers.
**Although severe renewal pruning keeps your shrubs healthy and attractive – there are a few cases when an old, overgrown shrub won’t grow back. It is doubtful that the Cassia shrubs, above, will survive for long either with or without severe pruning).
This usually indicates that the shrub has declined too much and would not have survived for long even without pruning. If this happens, you are better off replacing your shrub.**
Hand pruners, pruning saw and loppers
A good guideline for severely pruning your shrubs is to do this every 3 years or so. Of course, you can do this every year if you like to help keep your shrubs from outgrowing their space.
I hope that this helps to answer some of your questions.
If you would like to learn more about how to prune shrubs the right way, I invite you to learn more about my popular online shrub pruning workshop.
The other evening, my husband and I got away for a few hours to go and see a movie. On our way, we stopped by for dinner at El Pollo Loco.
As we were leaving, I looked toward the drive-thru and saw numerous Valentine shrubs.
As you can see, the shrubs are planted very closely together, so they do not have room to grow to their natural size.
So, landscapers come in and prune away the attractive natural shape of these shrubs along with their colorful, winter flowers.
The problem with this area is over planting.
You can really see it on the other side of the drive-thru lane.
Often, landscape architects and designers add more plants then needed because when first planted, plants look scrawny and small. Not necessarily something their client wants to see. They want immediate impact from plants.
But, just 2 years later, you have unattractive green blobs because there just isn’t enough room for them to grow and they require frequent visits from the landscaper.
So, what can be done? Well, if I were managing this property – I would pull out every other shrub in order to allow the remaining shrubs more room to grow.
This not only will create a more attractive landscape, but one that requires less maintenance, thereby saving money.
Valentine shrubs need to be pruned once a year in May.
That’s it!
Prune them back to 1 – 2 ft. wide and tall and you are done for the year.
For more information on Valentine shrubs and why they are one of my favorite plants read:
“Flowers for Christmas and Valentine’s Day”
In my last post, I showed you a photo of a “landscape no-no” and challenged you to guess what the problem was.
Were you able to guess what is wrong with this planting?
I gave a hint that the plant in the middle is ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea.
Well, I am happy to report that most of you were right about the problem.
You see, ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea (or any bougainvillea) for that matter, is too large to be planted in such a small area.
Although this bougainvillea shrub is small now, it will soon grow very big…
I planted the ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea, above, in my father-in-law’s back garden. At the time I took this photo – it was less then 2 years old.
Personally, I like this variety of Bougainvillea – it has an unusual shape compared to other types of Bougainvillea and produces less litter. It does grow very fast and will soon outgrow a small area. At maturity, it can reach heights of 8 feet and 4 feet wide.
So, back to the original planting in the first photo. The problem that will soon occur is that the ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea will grow wider and overhang the pathway to the entry.
Of course, at first, the homeowner will attempt to keep the Bougainvillea pruned back – but he would be fighting a losing battle. This shrub grows too big.
Did I also mention that this particular plant has THORNS?
You never want to put any type of plant or tree that has thorns, next to an area where people walk. No one likes to get stuck by a thorn.
This homeowner also had another landscape problem directly across the pathway from the bougainvillea…
He has a bush Rosemary planted in a tiny area that was 3 inches wide.
As you can see, he was already busy pruning it to keep it from hanging over the pathway.
Soon, the base of the plant will become more woody with less leaves as it grows, which will make it very unattractive.
In addition, the small amount of soil, will affect the ultimate health of the rosemary as well. It might become difficult to irrigate with a tiny root space as well.
**So what is the lesson learned from this “landscape no-no”?
Take a few minutes to research the plants you select before you plant them (don’t always rely on your landscaper’s advice – check for yourself). Make sure the plants will fit that particular area once they reach their mature size.
I hope this will help you to avoid a similar mistake in the future in your garden.
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I am still patiently (not really) waiting to plant my fall vegetable garden. We are buying compost and manure this weekend to replenish the existing soil in the gardens and I hope to have everything planted soon.
I promise to keep you updated 🙂
Many people tell me that they are tired of their boring, round green shrubs. Often, they are surprised when I tell them that those ‘boring’ green balls would actually flower if given a chance.
So, how do you take those boring green balls and turn them into beautiful, flowering shrubs?
‘Green Cloud’ Texas Sage shrubs
The first step is to rejuvenate your green ‘balls’ by severely pruning them back.
Now I warn you, this is an ugly stage. Your shrubs will look like a bunch of sticks poking out of the ground.
Red Bird-of-Paradise shrubs, newly pruned.
This is best done at certain times of the year, depending on what type of flowering shrub you have. For example, if you severely prune summer-flowering shrubs back in December, you will have to wait a long time for them to leaf out, once the weather warms.
I pruned the ‘Rio Bravo’ Sage (Leucophyllum langmaniae ‘Rio Bravo’) shrub below in March and by early April, it had already begun to produce new branches.
‘Rio Bravo’ Sage, 1 month after severely pruning.
So, when should you prune your shrubs?
Here is a list of some of the most common shrubs in the low desert and when they should be pruned. (If you live in the high desert, you can adjust the timing by a month or so later.)
Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea species) – March
Red Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) – March
Baja Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica) – March
Cassia species (Senna species) – May (once flowering is finished)
Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) – June
Valentine Bush (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine’) – May
Texas Sage (Leucophyllum species) – March
Oleander (Nerium oleander) – May or June
Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans) – March
Cape Honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis) – March or April
If you look closely at the list above, you can see that in most cases these shrubs are either pruned once they have finished flowering OR just after the danger of frost is over in the spring.
The reward for your efforts is a beautiful, flowering shrub like the ‘Green Cloud’ Texas Sage, below.
‘Green Cloud’ Texas Sage
If your shrub is getting a bit large later in the year, you can prune it using hand pruners and removing no more then 1/3 of the growth. Just be careful not to use hedge-trimmers.
So, do you have to prune your flowering shrubs severely every year?
Absolutely not.
As long as your shrub is attractive and not outgrowing its space, you can save severe pruning for every 3 years or so, which will remove older branches and cause new ones to grow in their place. This is what I do in my own garden.
Want to learn about pruning flowering shrubs the right way? I invite you to check out my popular online pruning workshop. I’ll teach you how to maintain beautiful flowering shrubs by pruning twice a year or less.
When you describe yourself, do you think of yourself as a trendsetter? Do you wear the most current fashions or drive the newest style of car?
Well, anyone who knows me well, would not use the word trendsetter to describe me. Now that doesn’t mean that my clothing or car are out of style…..I am perfectly content being more ‘middle of the road’ in my tastes. My youngest sister is what you would call a trendsetter and I am always getting inspiration from her in terms of my fashion sense, books to read and so much more.
However, before you write me off as a trendsetter, there is one area in my life where I do like to be a trendsetter…..in the garden.
If you drive down any neighborhood where you live, you probably find the same types of plants in the front yard. In a given neighborhood, there can be a very limited variety of plants present.
This can be a result of the home builder designing and installing the landscape, using a limited amount of plants to choose from. Or, that the homeowners do not know that there are other plants available for them to use.
In my little corner of the desert Southwest, you will see a large amount of Lantana, Dwarf Oleander, Texas Sage, Bougainvillea and Ficus trees.
Now there is nothing wrong with these plants and they look fabulous in the warmer months. But, when so many people have these plants in their front yard, they tend to become boring. The plants actually tend to become part of the background and do not add much interest to the landscape.
Imagine if everyone wore the same 4 pieces of clothing. It would be pretty boring.
But, imagine if one of those people decided to spice up her wardrobe by putting on a different style and color shirt? You can bet that people would start to notice her.
Well, the same is true of your garden. There are many different types of plants that are just as beautiful as the more common ones found in your neighborhood.
Over the next few posts, I will show you some of my favorites.
Today, I will introduce you to one of my favorite shrubs. This shrub was introduced by Mountain States Wholesale Nursery.
My favorite shrubs
Aren’t the flowers beautiful? This is my Valentine shrub (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine).
Over 12 years ago, I remember my nursery sales representative bringing me some free shrubs to try out on the golf course I was working at. Well anytime anyone offered me free plants, I was more then happy to try them out.
My favorite shrubs
Well, they turned out to be the best thing I had ever planted and I was soon ordering more.
Okay, here are just some of the reason I love this shrub:
It is evergreen
Beautiful flowers are produced during the winter months, when there is not much going on in the garden.
It only needs to be pruned once a year – in May.
I never had to fertilize them.
Very low-maintenance.
Hardy to 15 degrees F.
(Even when temperatures dipped down to 21 degrees last week, my shrubs are still beautiful and flowering).
Grows approximately 5′ x 5′ in size.
and does best in full sun.
I mean, what more can you ask for in a plant?
Still not convinced?
Here is another look……
So what are you waiting for? Go to your local nursery and pick some up. I have even seen them at our local big box stores.
Who knows? You may soon be known as the trendsetter in your neighborhood when you garden becomes a standout by using some lesser known plants 🙂
Drive By Landscapes: Winter Beauty in the Southwest Garden
Someone once commented about how much they loved the wonderful smell of rain in the desert. This person had moved away and they missed the characteristic fragrance that permeates the desert air when the rains came. People who have not visited the southwestern parts of the US may wonder what on earth she was talking about.
Well, there is a shrub that can be seen growing predominately throughout the desert southwest. It releases a wonderful fragrance whenever it rains. This shrub is known as creosote (Larrea tridentata).
This characteristic desert shrub can be found growing in the California desert. It also grows in the southern third of Arizona, New Mexico and the western half of Texas otherwise known as the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts.
I am a bit of a science geek. What I find fascinating is that creosote shrubs are classified as a single species. But depending on what desert they are growing in, have different chromosome numbers. Those found in Texas have 26 pairs. While in Arizona they have 52 pairs and in California they have 78 pairs. Some scientists theorize that the creosote found in California evolved from those in the Arizona desert. The higher chromosome count somehow enabled them to survive the drier conditions of the Mojave Desert.
Believe it or not, some colonies in the Mojave desert are absolutely ancient — over 11,500 years old.
Their small leaves are covered with resin to protect against water loss and from being eaten. It is widely thought that creosote produces a toxin or uses up all available water to keep other plants from growing close by therefore keeping competition for limited resources to a minimum.
I had a client who had a large beautiful creosote growing in their garden. She also had a boxwood hedge that was thriving, except for one area where a few boxwood shrubs were yellow and sickly. They had been that way for years. Coincidentally those sickly shrubs were a few feet away from the creosote.
Creosote can be grown in the desert landscape under 5,000 ft. They do best with limited water and grow slowly. In their native habitat, they typically grow to 4 feet in height. But in a landscape setting, they can reach heights of up to 12 feet.
To start from seed, pour boiling water over the seeds and let sit overnight. Then plant in soil and water. As the plant grows, slowly taper off the water. I recommend only watering a mature creosote, to a depth of 2 feet, 2 to 3 times in the summer. They can survive without any supplemental water.
Another interesting fact – did you know that you don’t have to wait for it to rain to enjoy the fragrance of this shrub? All you need to do is take a few leaves from the creosote and rub them between your fingers and you’ll be able to smell the refreshing scent of rain that is so characteristic of the Southwest.
Although I greatly enjoy being able to grow many frost-sensitive plants such as Bougainvillea and Arizona Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans), I do not particularly like how they look in the winter, once frost has hit our area – zone 9a.
And so, when hints of spring are in the air….I am itching to get back into the garden to prune them back. In our area (the Phoenix metro area), this is generally the beginning of March which is usually after the last frost has occurred in our area.
First on my list is the Bougainvillea. I have three in my back garden.
Not too attractive is it? You can clearly see where the frost damaged the top growth. The bottom growth is still green as the top branches protected them from frost damage.
Now you would assume that you just cut back all the leafless branches, but DON’T. Many of the naked branches are still alive. Look closely at the branch below and you can see that the part of the branch on the left is brown with no hint of green – prune the brown part of the branch off, leaving the green shaded part alone.
You can also look and see tiny leaflets starting to emerge. This is also a sign to look for when determining what part of the branches to prune.
Why not prune earlier to remove the ugly, naked branches you may ask? Well, the answer is simple….if you prune too early and frost hits your area, it will damage the newly emerging leaves and could easily kill the live tissue inside of the branches, leaving you with a much smaller plant or a dead one. So, as ugly as it looks in the winter….leave it alone, please?
Spring Pruning
All finished! Okay, I admit, that it still does not look all that attractive and many may feel compelled to remove all of the naked branches. But, look closely below….
Spring Pruning
This is why you do not want to remove all of the naked branches. This is my Bougainvillea one week after pruning. Beautiful leaves are beginning to grow out from those formerly naked branches.
**Tips for pruning Bougainvillea…WEAR LONG SLEEVES to protect yourself from the thorns. I used hand-pruners and loppers to prune all of my shrubs.
I am working hard today at pruning back many of my other desert shrubs and will be posting about them this coming week, so please visit again :^)
Peacful Day and Spring Pruning…
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Especially in terms of planting the right plant in the wrong place.
I took a drive this past fall around a neighborhood near our house and found many examples of beautiful plants that had been butchered in order to fit into a small area. I spoke about this in an earlier post, Read the Plant Label or You Might End Up With Cupcakes. But, I have more pictures to share of what went wrong by those who did not read the label.
So, even though I do love to ‘talk’ – I think I will let the following pictures speak for me….
Planting the right plant in the wrong place, Oleanders
Opuntia
Rosemary and Pyracantha
Texas Sage ‘Green Cloud’
Agave
Red Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)
Bougainvillea ‘Torch Glow’
Okay, I’m breaking my silence now.
You may be wondering why I am including the photo above. I took this photo of a client’s new landscape that they had just had designed and installed by a landscape company. You can see that the bougainvillea fit nicely in this area. Well, that was then…..what the homeowner did not realize, (until I told him), is that this shrub will grow 6 ft. high and wide. The area it was planted in was 1 ft. wide and located by the front entry. In addition, they did not take into account that bougainvillea have thorns, which would scratch people as they passed by this shrub as it grew outside of the planting boundary.
So, wherever you live….whether in England, China, South Africa, Australia and especially in Arizona – please, please read the plant label before buying a plant to see how large it will grow.
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